Death Note
by vashsunglasses
Summary: Four chapters, Four turtles, Four possible recipients of the Death Note.
1. Prologue

_Title:_ Death Note

_Author:_ vashsunglasses

_Rating:_ T

_Fandom:_ TMNT

_Disclaimer:_ The TMNT belong to Mirage, not me.

_Summary:_ Four chapters, Four turtles, Four possible recipients of the Death Note.

* * *

**Prologue**

Four turtles were walking home after a long hard night of fighting the Foot. They were exhausted, and their heads drooped as they walked down the alleyway towards the sewer entrance. Then one of them saw a dark shape in the darkness. It was a book, and as his brothers walked on ahead, the turtle leaned down to look at what turned out to be an ordinary looking composition book with the words "Death Note" written in white on the cover. The inside pages were ordinary college ruled, but on the inside cover was written:

_Rules of Death Note:_

_1) The human whose name is written in this note shall die._

_2) This note will not take effect unless the writer has the subject's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected._

_3) If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the subject's name, it will happen._

_4) If the cause of death is not specified, the subject will simply die of a heart attack._

_5) After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds._

"Creepy…" the turtle said.

"Hurry up!" One of his brothers called out, standing over the sewer main.

"Coming!" the turtle said, tucking the notebook into his belt as he ran.

* * *

**To Be Continued:**

If you want the recipient of the Death Note to be Michelangelo, go to Chapter One.

If you want the recipient of the Death Note to be Donatello, go to Chapter Two.

If you want the recipient of the Death Note to be Leonardo, go to Chapter Three.

If you want the recipient of the Death Note to be Raphael, go to Chapter Four.


	2. Chapter 1 Michelangelo

_Title:_ Death Note

_Author:_ vashsunglasses

_Rating:_ T

_Fandom:_ TMNT

_Disclaimer:_ The TMNT belong to Mirage, not me.

_Summary:_ Four chapters, Four turtles, Four possible recipients of the Death Note.

* * *

**Chapter One**

**Michelangelo**

**(continued from Prologue)**

The Death Note lay forgotten underneath a pile of dirty laundry and comic books for several months, until the day that Michelangelo lost his mp3 player. And as he searched the room for it, he stumbled upon the familiar black cover and shivered slightly in remembrance. Then he threw it onto his dresser and continued the search for the missing mp3 player, but throughout the day his mind continued to creep back to the book that seemed to cast a dark shadow over his room.

Late that night, mp3 player found and safely tucked away, Michelangelo lay on his bed and stared into the gloom of his room at night. It was silly, but he just couldn't stop thinking about that notebook…

He sat up and turned on the small lamp by his bed, then walked over to his dresser and picked up the notebook. Taking a nearby pen in hand he opened the book and poised it over the page then stopped, frozen. "Oh, come on Michelangelo," he cursed himself, "The sooner you write in this silly thing the sooner you can get some sleep… Just a stupid prank anyway…" he muttered, touching the pen to the page.

Then his mind went blank, whose name would he write in the book? His first thought was of Agent Bishop, but then he realized that he didn't know his real name. He knew the name of the Shredder, but he was dead… Then it hit him, Karai! Oroku Karai, that's who he'd write in the book.

He wrote it quickly, then slammed the book shut and threw it across the room. If Karai turned up dead tomorrow of a heart attack then he'd know… but no! He was being silly…

He went back to bed and curled up under the covers, but his heart was racing and he didn't sleep a wink, images of a dead Karai running through his mind like boiling water. He got up early the next morning, dazed and exhausted, and turned the TV to the news, watching carefully for any mention of the demise of the leader of the Foot Clan.

But there was nothing. Throughout the day he watched the news, absorbed, only stopping to eat and check the newspaper. He could see the worried looks of his brothers in the corner of his eyes but he was consumed with knowing. And at the end of the day, with the knowledge that not a word had been said about Karai, he went to bed happy and slept deeply and relieved.

He awoke late the next morning feeling pretty good. He walked into the kitchen to get some cereal and as he reached into the cupboard he could hear his brothers talking in the background.

"I can't believe it," Donatello said.

"I know what you mean," Raphael replied, "it just seems too weird."

"No," Donatello said sharply, "I can't believe Karai could die of a heart attack at such a young age!"

Michelangelo dropped the box of cereal, spilling it all over the floor but uncaring of anything except the voices of his brothers in the next room.

"We'll need to see the body," Leonardo said coldly, "inspect it for ourselves. It could be a trick."

"How the hell are we going to do that?" Raphael snapped.

"I can't believe she's actually dead…" Donatello muttered, still focused on the illogic of it.

'Neither can I…' Michelangelo thought, sliding to his knees on the kitchen floor, feeling the tiny bits of cereal being crushed under his shins. 'Oh God, I think I'm going to be sick…' He jumped up and leaned into the sink just in time. He heaved and heaved, but all that came up was bile, sour and terrible. In the periphery he could hear his brothers rush into the room and feel their comforting hands supporting him but all he could think was, 'I killed her, I killed her, I killed her…" He soon found himself tucked back into his bed, with his brothers hovering over him.

"He's pretty sick," Donatello said.

'I'm a murderer," Michelangelo replied in his mind, 'of course I'm sick.'

Later, after cooling washcloths and the mint-pink of pepto bismol, they left him alone in his room to "get some rest". But he couldn't rest, not until there was restitution for his crime…

He crept out of bed and over to the corner of his room, where the Death Note still lay where he had thrown it. Grabbing a pen, he shuddered, then wrote down his name. A life for a life. Seppuku was the only solution for such a dishonorable act.

Forty seconds went by, alone in the dark, but in the end, nothing happened. "Why?" he cried out, looking at the rules on the front cover for an explanation, then he saw it, and almost laughed himself sick. Then he was sick, vomiting minty-pinkness all over his cement floor, for: "The **human** whose name is written in this note shall die."


	3. Chapter 2 Donatello

_Title:_ Death Note

_Author:_ vashsunglasses

_Rating:_ T

_Fandom:_ TMNT

_Disclaimer:_ The TMNT belong to Mirage, not me.

_Summary:_ Four chapters, Four turtles, Four possible recipients of the Death Note.

* * *

**Chapter Two**

**Donatello**

**(continued from Prologue)**

Donatello had been to many places and time periods in this universe and several others and if he had learned anything, he had learned not to mess with things he didn't understand. This Death Note seemed harmless enough, and could indeed be just a prank, but he wasn't going to take the risk of writing in it, in case it turned out to be real after all.

So he put it away, somewhere safe where it would be preserved, but not found by anyone else. After all, not everyone was like him, not everyone could handle the temptation… And if his mind continued to wander towards it through the following months as he continued his never ending work of experiments and maintenance and keeping everyone he loved alive, he would only think proudly of his will power that he still hadn't tested it. It was still locked away, and it evermore would be.

And then it happened, April fell ill, and soon she was more than ill, and soon she was dying. It was cancer and it was ravaging her body and every time Donatello could sneak into the hospital where she stayed he could see her suffering, and it seemed endless. He loved her, always had, had always loved her and had always been so jealous of Casey and now it was even worse because Casey could spend all day with her and he could only sneak in for short visits by and by.

And late at night he stared blankly into his computer screen, cursor blinking and tests unfinished, but all he could see was her face, gaunt and suffering and he wanted to take her place, he wanted to die in her place. But he couldn't. He couldn't stay with her, he couldn't save her, and he couldn't die for her. He was helpless, except not because…

And that's when he thought of his Death Note, tucked away forever so many months before. Before all this. And he thought of how he could end her suffering, finally give her some peace. But he couldn't give in to the temptation. He was better than that. Stronger than that. He had to give her a fighting chance. April was a fighter, she would make it through all this. And he loved her, and he wasn't a killer, and how the shell could he kill the one he loved anyway? And so he cried, and he laughed, but he did nothing. And he put the Death Note out of his mind.

Then, it was even later still and she was bald and shrunken down into her bed, and she said that she had accepted her death, that she even welcomed it, if only she could escape the pain. And Donatello stood there, watching his brothers cry, watching his Sensei cry, watching Casey cry, and he couldn't cry. He loved her more than any of them but he couldn't cry. He couldn't cry because all he could think of was the Death Note hidden away in his room and how he could give her her wish. As a token of his love for her he would give her what she wished.

Silent he went home, and silent he took out the Death Note, and silently he wrote, "April O'Neal dies peacefully in her sleep".

And then he took the Death Note out with him in the sewers, and he could hear the phone begin to ring back in the lair but he ignored it, and then he heard his shell cell ring but he ignored it, and he walked through the night, and he walked forever in the stench of leftover waste, and he walked through the sewers as the wound all the way to the ocean. And then he threw the Death Note into it, and listened to it splash, and watched it sink, and screamed his love for April into the night.


	4. Chapter 3 Leonardo

_Title:_ Death Note

_Author:_ vashsunglasses

_Rating:_ T

_Fandom:_ TMNT

_Disclaimer:_ The TMNT belong to Mirage, not me.

_Summary:_ Four chapters, Four turtles, Four possible recipients of the Death Note.

* * *

**Chapter Three**

**Leonardo**

**(continued from Prologue)**

Leonardo was a pragmatic being. He was also a deeply spiritual one. So when he saw the Death Note he immediately recognized the dark power it possessed, and knew that it could be a valuable weapon in the right hands. He rented a safety deposit box as far away from the lair as he could find, so that his Master Splinter wouldn't sense it's power and question him or even take it away.

Leonardo knew that the book was evil, but he also knew that the world was evil and would snatch his family away if it could. So he kept the book hidden and ready for the day when his family would be in dire peril and it would be time to use it.

But today was not that day. Today he was fighting the ex-cop, current Foot Clan, waste of space known as Cha Ocho. They had worked together once, in order to find the killer of Cha's wife, but Cha had taken it too far and had killed the culprit. Leonardo had given him a scar across his face to mark his dishonor for all time, then left him. But Cha Ocho wasn't so easy to get rid of, and as Karai's right hand man, he seemed to find special pleasure in making life difficult for Leonardo.

And now they were fighting across the rooftops, his brothers around him fighting lesser Foot while Leonardo fought Cha. Cha was bragging as usual, something about how he "had the juice" to destroy Leonardo once and for all, but Leo wasn't worried, Cha Ocho was big on words, but next to him, he was nothing, juice or not.

Leonardo dodged each of Cha's strikes, while leaving stinging little cuts on Cha's body in return. Cha was breathing hard, but Leo hadn't even broken a sweat. Then Cha made a wild swipe with his sword that left him wide open to defeat and humiliation through Leo's sword. And Leo took the opening, stepped forward into an unseen oil slick, and fell in a heap at Cha's feet, swords clattering away to his sides, face planted in the roof tiles.

The fighting stopped, then everyone, brothers and enemies alike began to laugh. Cha laughed the hardest, turning his back on Leonardo and dismissing him as if beneath his notice. He called off his Foot and they ran away across the rooftops, sporadic laughter still ringing from time to time.

Donatello leaned over Leonardo's still unmoving form, "Leo, are you ok?" he asked in concern.

Leonardo twisted away, hissing in humiliation, "I'm fine." He snapped.

"Are you sure-" Michelangelo started, only to be stopped by Raphael.

"Just let Fearless Leader have some time alone Mikey," he said, still smirking slightly.

The image of the Death Note appeared in Leo's mind and soon it was all he could think about… "I'm going on a walk," he snapped, running towards the next roof, "Don't follow me, I'll be home later."

Leaving his brothers behind he ran across town, his legs and lungs burning but ignored by his driving anger at himself, and the piercing humiliation of what had happened. He slipped into the subway station with his safety deposit box and opened it. Thinking for a moment, he wrote what he needed to write, then shut it again. He needed to get home soon if he wanted to be rested for what would take place tomorrow night.

Entering the quiet of the Lair he lay on his sleeping mat, but was unable to sleep. He tried to meditate but everything was clouded. All he could think about, repeating over and over in his mind, was this night's humiliation and anticipation for tomorrow night. The day was long, and Leo was restless, but everyone left him alone, chalking it up to his defeat the night before.

And then it was night once more, and he lead his brothers across the rooftops back to where last night's fight had occurred. And there was Cha Ocho, just as he had written. And they fought again, just as he had written. And eventually Cha Ocho left a wide opening in his stance, just as he had written. And Leonardo struck Cha Ocho across the stomach, spilling his organs and killing him, just as he had written.

And his brothers stood around him, cheering him on. Cheering his victory. And he put on a smiling face over the emptiness inside him. This victory was hollow.


	5. Chapter 4 Raphael

_Title:_ Death Note

_Author:_ vashsunglasses

_Rating:_ T

_Fandom:_ TMNT

_Disclaimer:_ The TMNT belong to Mirage, not me.

_Summary:_ Four chapters, Four turtles, Four possible recipients of the Death Note.

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**Raphael**

**(continued from Prologue)**

As far as Raphael was concerned, murder was murder, no matter how you did it. And this Death Note thing, writing someone's name in a notebook to kill them, that would be murder. He wanted to destroy it, but worried that perhaps it was indestructible, or that it would blow up in his face or curse him or something. He didn't even know if it was REAL, but he'd lived through enough weirdness that he doesn't really want to find out. He just wants it gone, it's giving him a headache.

He thinks about telling his brothers about it, but he doesn't think they could handle it. Michelangelo was too innocent and curious, Donatello was too cold and detached, and Leo, shell Leo had that whole big brother complex thing going on. He didn't know how he knew, just like he didn't know how he knew how valuable the Death Note was, but he knew that his brothers simply couldn't handle it.

He thinks about telling Master Splinter about it, but for some reason he doesn't. He can't. Even though he doesn't want to use the Death Note, the fact that he has it, that it's his secret and no one else's gives him a sort of power. He knows that kind of thought is dangerous, but he also knows that for the first time in a long time, he feels like he has some control over his life. He's not just the guy who has to do what everyone says, he's the guy with a secret, and that makes him feel important.

And so he hoards it, and hides it. Keeps it safe, and takes it out every once in a while to admire it. But he doesn't use it, not matter how tough things get. And the years go by, and he isn't a teenager anymore, and the enemies they face are worse than any that came before, but he still doesn't use it. He doesn't need to. He doesn't want to. He can do everything that needs doing with his own two hands and his own two feet. He doesn't need a pen to do something that he could do better and more honorably with his sais.

And so there he is, in his early thirties having owned the Death Note for fifteen years and never used it. And when the original owner of the Death Note comes back for it, a demon named Ryuk, he isn't even surprised, just a little curious why it didn't come back sooner. He asks it why, but Ryuk just laughs and says that of all the creatures who have ever touched his Death Note, only he hadn't been tempted to use it. What was it that made him so different from every other creature in the universe? What makes Raphael unique?

And Raph shrugs, "I guess I'm just a nice guy, ya'know?"

But Ryuk just smirks and fades from view, his voice carrying on the wind and saying, "Let's give it another 15 years and see what happens, hmm?"

And Raphael frowns, but continues to stroke the black cover with his strong hands covered in delicate green skin. Power doesn't have to be used to be appreciated, he thinks to himself. Just having it, just the possibilities, just that is enough.


End file.
